Re: ,Language' in language name?

On Thu, 29 Nov 2001 06:11:25 -0500, John Cowan <cowan@...>
wrote:

>Andreas Johansson scripsit:
>
>> In school I was thought that nouns in -ese have a zero plural marking, so
>> "one Japanese", "two Japanese" is correct. Native speakers don't feel
>> this?
>
>The use of -ese nouns to refer to persons is mildly archaic. Seventy years
>ago or so, Ogden Nash (American comic poet) could still write "How very
>polite is the Japanese/He always says 'Excuse it, please'", but that seems
>bizarre now.
>Nowadays, "Japanese" without "the" refers to the Japanese language, and
>"the Japanese", with the article, refers to the people of Japan considered
>collectively.  Neither of these uses can be pluralized, of course.
It seems that -ese used to be taken as a plural in some dialects --
2 Chinese, 1 Chinee. I've never heard it, but it abounds in literature.

Jeff

>And using "English" as a individual personal noun is and has always been
>impossible; one must say "person from England" or "English-speaking person"
>as the case may be.  (Except in a restaurant, where Americans can order
>"two English", meaning English muffins! Here, of course, there is no plural
>marker because the noun has been elided.)
>
>--
>John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
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